Russian forces capture first city in battle for Donbas

Kreminna, a city of more than 18,000 people about 350 miles (560km) south-east of the capital, Kyiv, appears to be the first city captured in a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

Evacuated residents from the city have said they are unable to reach relatives and friends there.

Olena Stetsenko, the head of the City Korupus volunteer organisation located in Kreminna, was evacuated from the city in mid-March. Stetsenko was one of the last to reach someone inside the city before her mobile signal was fully cut off at lunchtime on Monday, she said, hours after Russian forces reportedly took the city.

There has been a pattern of Ukrainian towns and villages losing mobile connection shortly after falling under Russian occupation.

On Saturday 16 April, two days before Russian forces occupied the city, the Guardian travelled there to witness what was the last evacuation of Kreminna residents.

The 17 evacuees hugged loved ones and said teary goodbyes to the backdrop of not so distant booms. Those who stayed watched the bus pull away from the cover of the arches of Soviet-era apartment blocks.

An elderly man who has trouble walking and with his eyesight was led towards the bus by a younger man. A tense group effort was made to lift him on to the bus and get his legs into a position where was able to sit down inside. The bus then collected a middle-aged woman, who was accompanied by a man who kissed her goodbye in the aisle before jumping off.

Victoria Slobodyansk, a 61-year-old retired English teacher, who was travelling with her husband, Oleksandr, her cat in a basket on her lap and a guinea pig in a bag at her feet, said she was leaving because of the images she had seen of Bucha and Hostomel, two towns in the Kyiv region that were devastated under Russian occupation.

Speaking from a town in Dnipro region after being evacuated, Slobodyansk said she had been trying to contact her friends and help other people contact their relatives but with no luck.

Slobodyansk said that before she left the city, there had been no gas for three weeks. She said electricity had been cut several times though local workers had managed to re-establish the connection on 15 April. She said residents had been cooking on the streets when there was no electricity.

Reuters contributed to this report